Wi-Fi 6E does not work in Canada with Intel AX210

[thewade]

[Impact]

Intel has been adding support for Wi-Fi 6E (6GHz band) to additional countries as they get regulatory approval.

With the base install of Ubuntu 22.10, I do not have 6GHz support while in Canada, and have confirmed with 'iw reg get'.

Intel has released an updated pnvm file to support more countries:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/commit/iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0.pnvm?id=20d9516de4cdc041e2aa83009e5b0464b1c3ed81

After copying the latest iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-72.ucode and iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0.pnvm from git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git and rebooting I now have full support:

$ iw reg get

[...]

(5945 - 5965 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(5965 - 5985 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(5985 - 6005 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6005 - 6025 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6025 - 6045 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6045 - 6065 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6065 - 6085 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6085 - 6105 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6105 - 6125 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6125 - 6145 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6145 - 6165 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6165 - 6185 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6185 - 6205 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6205 - 6225 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6225 - 6245 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6245 - 6265 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6265 - 6285 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6285 - 6305 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6305 - 6325 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6325 - 6345 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40MINUS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(6345 - 6365 @ 1180), (6, 22), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW, IR-CONCURRENT, NO-HT40PLUS, PASSIVE-SCAN

Can we update the linux-firmware package for kinetic to include the latest pnmv and core 72 firmware?

[Fix]

See above.

[Test Case]

See above.

[Where Problems Could Occur]

Networking issues, stack traces, kernel crashes on machines with NICs that load this firmware.

[Juerg Haefliger (juergh)]

Lunar already has this commit.

[Juerg Haefliger (juergh)]

Can you give this test package a try, please?

https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~juergh/lp1997908/linux-firmware_20220923.gitf09bebf3-0ubuntu1.4+lp1997908_all.deb

[thewade (wade-penner)]

Ran the test package from a clean install. The driver upgraded to iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-72.ucode and I was able to see 6Ghz channels while in the Canadian regulatory domain.

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

Hello thewade, or anyone else affected,

Accepted linux-firmware into kinetic-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-firmware/20220923.gitf09bebf3-0ubuntu1.5 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-kinetic to verification-done-kinetic. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-kinetic. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

[thewade (wade-penner)]

Testing 20220923.gitf09bebf3-0ubuntu1.5 from proposed I can confirm the issue is resolved.

Before installing the package I can confirm the firmware version for the AX210 was 71.058653f6.0 ty-a0-gf-a0-71.uc and iw reg get did not show 6GHz channels when the Canadian regulatory domain was detected.

After upgrading the package and restarting iwlwifi I can confirm that the firmware was upgraded to 72.daa05125.0 ty-a0-gf-a0-72.uc and that the 6GHz channels now show up in iw reg get when the Canadian regulatory domain was detected.

Further testing was done to ensure WiFi was working as expected with available 6Ghz and 5Ghz networks.

[thewade (wade-penner)]

Testing 22.04.2 LTS (linux-generic-hwe-22.04/5.19.0.35.36~22.04.10). I have the same issue with linux-firmware (20220329.git681281e4-0ubuntu3.11).

iwlwifi loaded 72.daa05125.0 ty-a0-gf-a0-72.ucode however the pnvm file which contains the regulatory info seems to be an old version as I could not see any 6Ghz channels with 'iw reg get' in the Canadian regulatory domain.

When i copied the latest iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0.pnvm from git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git and restarted iwlwifi I was able to see the 6GHz channels.

Can we also get the same fix for jammy?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package linux-firmware - 20220923.gitf09bebf3-0ubuntu1.5

---------------
linux-firmware (20220923.gitf09bebf3-0ubuntu1.5) kinetic; urgency=medium

  * Frequent wakeups on HP Pro x360 435 13.3 inch G9 using Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 (LP: #2006458)
    - ath11k: WCN6855 hw2.0: update board-2.bin
    - ath11k: WCN6855 hw2.0: update to WLAN.HSP.1.1-03125-QCAHSPSWPL_V1_V2_SILICONZ_LITE-3.6510.23
  * Wi-Fi 6E does not work in Canada with Intel AX210 (LP: #1997908)
    - iwlwifi: add new FWs from core69-81 release
    - iwlwifi: add new FWs from core72-129 release
    - iwlwifi: add new PNVM binaries from core74-44 release

 -- Juerg Haefliger <email address hidden> Thu, 16 Mar 2023 15:57:31 +0100

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for linux-firmware has completed successfully and the package is now being released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.